Arquitectura en fiesta

La Casa de la Arquitectura, in the Arquería de Nuevos Ministerios, hosts this exhibition on temporary constructions linked to popular festivals and community celebrations, from awnings and stages to human towers.

The exhibition focuses on structures designed to last only a short time: they are put up for a celebration and then dismantled or burnt. For that reason they often allow a technical freedom that rarely appears in permanent building, and that is the starting point of the route.

The route is organised around eight actions typical of the festival: dancing, eating, raising, smelling, moving in procession, dressing up, burning and sheltering. For each one, the exhibition brings together urban occupation projects, plans, photographs and objects. Awnings, stages, floats, human towers or frameworks for fire show how the street is transformed and how these constructions collectively meet the need to gather, protect oneself and celebrate.

The set design carries the spirit of the festival into the galleries: a fabric hung from the ceiling like a marquee combines traditional red with pastel tones, and the wooden furniture, with partitions, benches, platforms and supports for costumes and audiovisual equipment, organises the route through the works. At the entrance, the head of a traditional giant presides. The proposal aims to showcase the technical ingenuity of these structures and their role in community life.